In A World of Skeptics, Learning ‘The Language of Trust’ Is Critical

Read Michael Maslansky’s book on communications and hear echoes of George Orwell. It was Orwell who long ago warned that “the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.”

Today, we’re saddled with thoughts no one trusts.

In “The Language of Trust” (Prentice Hall Press), communications strategist Maslansky declares that “language is a big contributor to [the] decline of trust and rise in skepticism—and it can also be a big part of the solution.”

Dating the death of trust to 2008, Maslansky calls the Post-Trust Era a redoubtable challenge for all of society. But “big business—never having occupied a soft spot in the American heart—has a particularly daunting task ahead of it,” writes Maslansky, CEO of Maslansky. Luntz & Partners

Yet Maslansky calls the Post-Trust Era a time of opportunity. Armed with research and reason, he files his book-length brief for communicating “in a credible and impactful way at a time when credibility is in extremely short supply.”

Collaborating with a brain trust from Van Kampen Investments, Maslansky showcases the structure of the New Word Order program. This program, he explains, sets the stage for an “opinion transplant” among a prospect, a customer or a would-be political adversary. The presentation on the program is the heart of “The Language of Trust.”

“You must get people to listen to what you’re saying before you can have a dialogue,” Maslansky writes. “Otherwise, you’ll have two monologues.”

Two-way monologues may be good for cable talk shows, but they’re deadly for any business.

In the book, Maslansky & Co. also codifies his “Anti-Trust Laws,” 20 phrases that should have been banished long ago. Similar sage counsel is applied to building trust online.

“Your message should be your message”—at all times. Maslansky is right.

Trust me.

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J.F. McKenna is a veteran business journalist and communications specialist.